Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/577

 IS85-] THE BOND OF ASSOCIATION. Morgan in his company, contented himself with giving him a severe beating, and let him go to report the answer of France to the demand for the extradition of a Catholic. 1 The King was not responsible for D'Aumalo's inso- lence; but his indecision was easily construed into treachery. Henry of Yalois had no character to fall back upon, and when he was honest he could not obtain credit for it. The roads were open when Morgan was first arrested, and the King's two secretaries, M. Ville- roy and M. Pinart, were known to have then opposed his surrender. Weakness too was almost as dangerous as deliberate falsehood. The King might be killed or might be deposed. The Duke of Guise was supposed to require, as one of the conditions of peace, . May. that ' Normandy, Picardy, and Brittany, with 1 The Nuncio interfered for M or- gan as well as Guise, and the Pope himself was moved in his behalf. 'Forasmuch,' wrote one of the English at Paris to a friend at Rome, 'as there is a sincere amity still continued between his Most Christian Majesty and the Queen of England, who will never leave to persecute Morgan to the death, his liberty must be procured by all means, that he may not be at the mercy of either of these princes. Move there- fore his Holiness in the matter. Let him seem to take it very strange that his Majesty most Christian would, in favour of the Queen of England, an enemy to God and his Church, im- VOL. XL prison Mr Morgan, an English gentleman, who lived in banishment for his faith and his religion. He may tell the King that if he had delivered Mr Morgan it should have been a great offence in the King to- wards God to consent to the effusion of innocent blood, and a great dis- honour to him and the realm of France. His Holiness may re- quire the liberty of Mr Morgan forthwith, and allege that his Holi- ness will employ him in the service of the Catholic Church.' Letter to Dr Lewis, at Rome, in the case of Mr Morgan, April, 1585: MSS. France. 36